Ticket Fees:

Just a little rant here. What is up with ticket fees? I see that for a 1-day saturday ticket, it is $75, plus a $5 ticket "surcharge". How do we get rid of these outside agencies and their "fees". It really bugs me, and I don't see what the point is. And I'm not just knocking SNWMF here, but all ticket "outlets" that charge a fee that's more than 2-3 bucks. Seems like a rip-off to me, and unneccessary. Can't festivals and shows just sell their own tickets, without an outside "agency" and their ridiculous fees? Somebody enlighten me here. I would drive to SF and get a ticket in person, but then I'm paying gas & bridge toll. Kinda frustrating...

QuoteHow do we get rid of these outside agencies and their "fees". It really bugs me, and I don't see what the point is.

Some people are glad to pay 5.12 to avoid the hassle of having to physically go out and purchase a ticket. The festival DOES have tickets available for purchase via mail order for which THERE IS NO FEE. Again, some people would rather pay 5.12 and get their tickets right then and there than to have to sit down and write a check (or purchase a money order), and send in the funds with their mailing address and wait for the tickets to come in the mail.....

I'm with you Reggabe these fees are ridiculous. I don't understand what they do to deserve such a high fee. You buy a ticket that is supposed to be 20 bucks and spend 5 more dollars in fees. That's 20% of the ticket and what did ticketmaster or whatever website really do to deserve that much money? Big time rip off.

I'm not even worried about the fee for this fest, the 10 dollar fee is only 6% of the ticket and if I want to avoid the fee I can, because there are numerous ticket outlets to get them. The thing that gets me is the smaller shows where I have no other opertunity to get the ticket without paying the fee and the fee is 20% of the ticket. And ticketmaster does next to nothing to deserve that money.

Never hinted in the least that snwmf should change the way they do things in any way, but thanks for putting words in my mouth. As I already stated I know I can avoid the fees for this festival. Once again, the thing that gets me is the small shows that you have to pay a fee which is a large percentage of the ticket price, and you have no opportunity to avoid it. Ticketmaster and sites of the like are just a big rip off in my opinion, as they do nothing for the money they make from charging a so called "convienence fee."

One more time, what is your problem vein? Does me talking about being annoyed by getting ripped off by ticketmaster some how make you angry? And so what if you make x amount of money does that somehow mean you should just throw it away by giving it to undeserving companies like ticketmaster?

Quoteyou are ranting on about ticket prices.. i am saying you know its the nature of the beast..

1. I Don't see anyone complaining about ticket prices (at least not in this thread).

2. The fact that it may be "the nature of the beast" doesn't make it right.

The truth is that EventBrite will no doubt make more $$$ (simply by offering the 'convenience' of buying tickets online) than the festival's promoters who work tirelessly throughout the year to put the event on. And Visa and MasterCard will make more $$$ than EventBrite and the festival combined.

The fact is that house-flippers make more money than teachers. That doesn't make it right and if everyone takes BigVein's approach, that will never change. Big up to those that SPEAK UP in the face of unfairness...!!!

I wish I was making 50k! LOL - I think the issue here is the fact that a middleman is (over)charging for a basic service. Some of these shows tack on 15-20 bucks per ticket (not all for Ticketmaster - some can be city entertainment tax, venue surcharge, etc), and then you get slapped with $15 in parking when you arrive. then $14 beers, $8 sodas, etc.

So your view point is, it's just $5 no big deal, got it. Thanks for the input.

Thank you Danial, for actually putting some perspective on this topic. That is pretty messed up that Eventbrite will make more $ than the people who actually do the work to make this and other festivals happen. And your point about house flippers hits a note with me since I'm trying to buy a house right now in this crazy market where house-flippers are buying everything with cash so people like me who need a place to live can't find one.

Quoteyou are ranting on about ticket prices.. i am saying you know its the nature of the beast..

1. I Don't see anyone complaining about ticket prices (at least not in this thread).

2. The fact that it may be "the nature of the beast" doesn't make it right.

The truth is that EventBrite will no doubt make more $$$ (simply by offering the 'convenience' of buying tickets online) than the festival's promoters who work tirelessly throughout the year to put the event on. And Visa and MasterCard will make more $$$ than EventBrite and the festival combined.

The fact is that house-flippers make more money than teachers. That doesn't make it right and if everyone takes BigVein's approach, that will never change. Big up to those that SPEAK UP in the face of unfairness...!!!

semantics.. the price of the ticket is whatever dollar amount it takes for the ticket to exchange hands.. if the price includes convenience fees, then that is the price of the ticket.

you all must have it that good to be complaining about a service fee.. paying this service fee is NOT unfair.. paying the fee is the price of doing business with the ticket broker..

by labeling a minimal service fee as unfair does an disservice to other day to day shite which is truly unfair..

Toots in St. Louis last month...
$26 advance
$29 at the door day of show
$30.75 advance on line

Club box office only open during nights of shows.
We wanted to get advance tickets. We were concerned about Toots selling out ~ small club. The club was packed that night.
For me to drive to the club is about 15 minutes one way. Also I didn't know about the parking situation. Plus I didn't want to drive to the club during my happy hour & dinner to buy advance tickets from the box office. My choice. So we paid $4.75 service fee per ticket. In this case it was well worth it to buy on line.

Last year I paid over $7 service fee per ticket for Steve Winwood. Not happy about that one. Again I couldn't make to the box office.

Back in the early 70's I use to pay a department store .50 cents service fee per ticket for rock concerts. Didn't bother me because I didn't have to drive half way across Los Angeles to get my tickets. Fifty cents was worth a lot more back then.

If you call a plumber during regular working hours just to look at a problem, it's around $80. If you don't use them you are out of the $$. Service fee?
If you need tree work done ~ free estimates.
So I have the tree guy working on my plumbing.

Club drinks can cost $5+ per drink. I can buy the same drink at a store for $1 or less. I mean we can just go on and on about this.
Bottom line for me is that service fees are just part of doing business whether it's for concert tickets, banking, etc...

sorry, didn't mean to start a controversy. yeah it's a trivial fee to complain about, but then again, all this nickel & diming adds up. I know it's the nature of the beast, but I still think it's a rip-off. funds are really tight these days for me, so I start to question these extra "fees". I didn't know you could mail order a 1-day ticket Daniel, thanks. Maybe next year SNWMF could have a ticket outlet over here in the east bay near Oakland or Berkeley? I'd just rather not give these ticket "agencies" my $$.

QuoteReggabe
sorry, didn't mean to start a controversy. yeah it's a trivial fee to complain about, but then again, all this nickel & diming adds up. I know it's the nature of the beast, but I still think it's a rip-off. funds are really tight these days for me, so I start to question these extra "fees". I didn't know you could mail order a 1-day ticket Daniel, thanks. Maybe next year SNWMF could have a ticket outlet over here in the east bay near Oakland or Berkeley? I'd just rather not give these ticket "agencies" my $$.

I'm on the fence about going this year, and I have not missed the fest since I began attending 14 years ago. Just seems this years lineup is not a strong as years past. Last year was pretty strong. I'm so glad Angels Camp brought the Roots back. I'll check that out in a couple of weeks.

Quotecultureman
I'm on the fence about going this year, and I have not missed the fest since I began attending 14 years ago. Just seems this years lineup is not a strong as years past. Last year was pretty strong. I'm so glad Angels Camp brought the Roots back. I'll check that out in a couple of weeks.

You're joking? Max Romeo, Cornell Campbell, U Roy, Leroy Sibbles, etc.... more roots right there than the entire RITH lineup. Capleton does nothing for me and I've seen Steel Pulse a billion times - If I were going I'd be stoked on Anuhea, Marlon and interested to see what Inner Circle is up to these days, but otherwise the lineup doesn't float my boat all that much, at least for a festival lineup.

"I'm gonna put on a iron shirt, and chase the devil out of earth" - Max Romeo

QuoteDubguy
You're joking? Max Romeo, Cornell Campbell, U Roy, Leroy Sibbles, etc.... more roots right there than the entire RITH lineup. Capleton does nothing for me and I've seen Steel Pulse a billion times - If I were going I'd be stoked on Anuhea, Marlon and interested to see what Inner Circle is up to these days, but otherwise the lineup doesn't float my boat all that much, at least for a festival lineup.

I am right there with you as far as RITH is concerned. That lineup isn't worth the ticket price IMO. I have a place 15 mins away in Arnold and still don't think I'm going to make the drive down the mountain that weekend even though I'm going to be up there.

I'm with Dubguy .. SNWMF 2013 looks far better the reggae in the hills.. what more roots u need plus bands that u will never see again...this festival always brings bands that no one else would .One the best Summer festivals..